Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MAURICE
R. BURRELL
Maurice
r. Burrell says of Monterey Park, “I’ve shot rabbits where most of the tract
houses now stand, waded in a pool behind the Bank of America, played baseball
in the middle of Garfield Avenue—yes, I’ve grown up with the town, or “city”,
if you prefer, but I’m proud of it and I hope to live here another forty
years.” He is proud of the town and
justly proud of his parents who played a very important role in the development
of Monterey Park from the time they took up residence here in 1922. The senior Maurice E. Burrell did much to
build Monterey Park in its infancy; many of the homes, stores, and churches he
constructed almost forty years ago are proud and stately memorials to his
ability and workmanship. He had also
been in vaudeville for many years with such old timers as Harry Lauder, Joe E.
Howard, and Al Jolson. He then went into
motion pictures as one of the famous original Keystone Kops, and worked with
such greats as the late Ben Turpin, Slim Summerville, Marie Dressler, Wallace
Beery, and probably the best known of them all, Charlie Chaplin. Mrs. Teresa M. Burrell, the junior Maurice
Burrell’s mother, had been in light comic opera, motion pictures, and radio
before her early days in Monterey Park where she helped organize the city’s
first Social Welfare Department, was a reporter on one of its early day
newspapers, composed the city’s original slogan, and was instrumental in the
establishment of its theater and many of its first businesses.
Born
in Los Angeles on August 11, 1919, Maurice R. Burrell came to Monterey Park
with his parents in 1922 and received his elementary education at Ynez
School. He graduated from Alhambra High
School and attended Loyola University, where he majored in speech. World War II interrupted his education,
however, and after four years of defense work, during which time he also led
and played in several dance orchestras, he married, and became the father of
two children, a son, Phillip, and a daughter, Patricia.
“Maurie” Burrell, as he is best known, went into business
for himself in 1946 with a small woodworking shop in part of his garage, and
has made and sold cabinets, screen doors, and other wood products, for the past
sixteen years. One of San Gabriel
Valley’s most prominent louver window specialists, he now operates out of two
shops, Monterey Cabinet Shop in Monterey Park, and Woodworking specialties in
Temple City. He is also a former Los
Angeles city building inspector, and is a well-known pianist and entertainer,
having made hundreds of appearances at local fraternal organizations, civic
functions, and festivities.
Both
the elder Burrell’s have taken their last curtain calls, but Mr. Burrell still
occupies the family home at 121 West Emerson Avenue with his son, Phil, aged
19, who works with him in his business, and his daughter, Pat, aged 18, who
recently graduated from Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, and who
was a contestant in a recent Monterey Park Queen contest.
Although
he raised both Phil and Pat from childhood by himself, Mr. Burrell early this
year (1961) married Dorothy Cole, a former Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff,
and just before this article went to press, they welcomed a new baby boy, Randolph
Edward.
“We
may start raising a family all over again,” he chuckled proudly.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 583-584, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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